Pig-Heart Boy

A powerful story about friendship, loyalty and family around this topical and controversial issue - Guardian
An engrossing story - Daily Telegraph

Thats all I ever did - watch and listen. I was always a spectator, never a participant. I didnt call that living. I was alive - but that was all.

Cameron is thirteen, and all he wants is a normal life - friends, swimming, school, family.

But his life is far from normal. Not every thirteen-year-old desperately needs a new heart because theirs doesnt work properly.

Finally, one doctor offers hope.
Cameron could - if he and his parents agree - take part in a radical and controversial procedure involving the transplant of a pigs heart into his human body.

Its risky. And its never been done before . . .

While Cameron comes to terms with the idea, he finds the world around him is much less accepting.

But surely everyone will understand that its better to have a pigs heart that works than a human heart that doesnt - wont they . . .?

A sensitive and informative story that provides a vivid insight into transgenics and xenotransplantations and still manages to squeeze in the inevitable guinea-pig and piggy in the middle jokes - Independent